About Me
R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice Click here to make Falling Objects R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice R.I.P. Raulon D. Rice Raulon David Rice, born October 13, 1983 at Kettering Medical. Raulon was seriously a beautiful, pretty baby! The thing that made me (Shasmine) mad was that he inherited those eyes and I didn't. Where did those come from? Proud parents Suriffa and Robert Rice. He also had a brother named Bill and 2 sisters named Shasmine and Carla. Raised as a Seventh-Day Adventist, he went to the private school Miami Valley, and Spring Valley Academy. Dont be fooled though, Raulon definitely had two sides, (as many of you know). While religious, he definitely had interest in other things. He was also known to some as a trouble maker. He got into everything and it drove adults crazy. One thing he never had a problem with was making friends, even though he fought time to time with most of them, lol.Throughout his early adolescense, Raulon spent most of his time in church, Ethan Temple, where most of his lifelong friends (and sometime enemies) were made. At the same time, especially in the Allegheny West Conference, there wasn't barely a person around who you could meet that didnt know him (especially the girls). He literally had friends around the entire country. Raulon was more of a family oriented person, and much rather kept a close, small crew of friends. Always one of the most intelligent, well-read, and cultured people you could ever meet, but school was not his thing. He was always more of a get-up and do something person. When he got to high school he really started coming into himself. He was always extremely confident and agressive, but the real problem came when he found out that he was cute too. Then... it was on, lol. He loved the girls, and just as equally couldnt keep them away. It took a little time for him to find out exactly what he wanted to be, or look like. He was a church boy, with a thug-mentality, a pretty-boy face, and athletic tendencies, lol. And he wasnt scared of anybody.He always had a very strong family and spiritual foundation, led very closely by his mother, Suriffa and father Bob. Suriffa was everyone's mother, you will follow her rules, and everyone loved her like she was their own mother. So he never had the chance to stray too far away. When Friday nights came, he knew what was up. Until saturday night, at the close of Sabbath, he knew his time was devoted to the Lord and his family.He kept his friends very close though, and at this time his closest friends were Preston and Antwan, people you could always find at his side. Now they didnt start out in church, but when it came to Raulon, you would eventually find his friends at church with him. Outside of church with his friends, you'd usually find him playing basketball, videogames, reading, skipping school, or doing something else he probably shouldn't have been doing, lol. Raulon was never ashamed of the person he was, he just tried to be a better person. His biggest enemy was always himself, because he knew when he was wrong, and genuinely felt bad for it.So active in his life, he was also extremely active in church. From a kid thru his teenage years, you'd find him in choir, pathfinders, Sabbath School (bright and early, lol), the basketball team, Bible Bowl, campmeeting, Youth Congress, Camp Polliwog, anything he could join. Very social he just liked being around people. Then one day, in about 1999, there was this group of girls at church, who had always been there, that he started to notice... actually everybody started to notice. The twins and their 3 sisters: Melissa, Meredith, Joyce, April, and Jasmine. Everybody was always close, but as everybody got older, we got closer. Raulon had his eye on one girl inparticular, Joyce, but come to find out, so did a whole lot of other guys. Throughout this, we became a huge group (Usually led by Ricky, lol). Raulon had his work cut out for him, and he never gave up. Joyce loved Raulon so so much but didn't want to admit it at first, she tried to hide it for a while but couldn't fight it! He tried for the longest to move this young lady, along with the others, and suprisingly through this adversity, he discovered his newest friend, Gery, whom also tried to pursue Joyce. He was another person who had always been there, but early on Raulon and Gery conflicted... as on and off friends. One was kind of a troublemaker, the other was kind of a nerd. It seemed like since they were pursuing the same girl, they'd hate each other, but it was the exact opposite. After months and months of trying to get Joyce, one weekend at a Pathfinder's Retreat, he got his wish. And if you knew Raulon, everybody knew about it, lol.So at 15 years old, he had the chore of balancing family, school, church, friends, and a new girlfriend. He'd had plenty of girlfriends before, but Joyce was extra special, his first love, and was willing to fight anybody who challenged that. In the meanwhile, time with Preston, Gery, and Antwan, amongst a few other friends was very important. Raulon was one of the most loyal people you could ever meet in life. He could work your last nerve, but he'd never lose his loyalty to you. Always his best friend was his little sister, Shasmine. She was definitely one of the heroes in his life, and he was very protective of her. Regardless of his friends or girlfriends, his family, especially Shasmine, came first.School was also a very large burden for him. Even though he loved to learn, he just didnt like school, and spent lots of time just not going. Instead he'd use that time for a lot of other things. Independent learning, basketball, girls, getting into trouble occasionally, and anything he wanted to do. During this time, he spent a lot of time in between his mom and dad's houses.
Soon Gery began working at McDonald's and convinced Raulon to work there. The first real job for both of them. They worked there through the fall, the holidays, and most of the winter, but in March, Raulon was forced to leave due to personal circumstances. In school, when he did go, Raulon had always been extremely intelligent and gifted, and they requested he take college courses. He soon left Trotwood, and attended ISUS, where he continued to take college courses. As his endeavours continued, he began to see his friends move on in life, and tried to pull his own life together, but unsure where he wanted to go. He got a job working at a telemarketing service downtown, and an entrepeneur job selling pagers and cell phones. Recruiting Gery into the job, they set off to make some money. But with the job not showing any promise, they pursued other jobs.In August 2001, Raulon's Aunt Marjorie set him to work for Circuit City in Centerville. Raulon told Gery about it and they set off to work. Between Sept. 11 and 14, 2001, they both got hired. Raulon saw it as the best job he'd ever had, and felt his life going somewhere. But he soon found his relationship with Joyce getting rocky, and life moving too slow, he became depressed. He continued working at Circuit City until about Nov 2001. He met someone new named Amber, and he decided to transfer stores to work closer to home. He finally left Circuit City completely in late Dec 2001, due to a conflict of interest. His relationship with Amber blooming, he spent a lot of time with her. During this time, he also was in a singing group with 4 other close friends from church. A group named "Reality" with members Raulon, Ricky, Jason, Josh, and Tyson; along with two other groups "N"spiration and Miracle and group leader and muscians Keith Jenkins and Gery. The groups stayed together by performing all over the state, and even a few places out of state places like Chicago and Indianapolis. Outside of the singing group, Raulon had also formed a rap group with friend, Gery. Raulon was known as either Jyule or Juju. With his love of rap and hip-hop, Raulon was a great lyricist who would battle anybody.In 2002, the singing groups changed and performed less, so Raulon moved on, though his relationship with Amber continued. He soon continued his classes at Sinclair, but jobless at the time, he got into trouble. The trouble heightened in Aug 2002, with girlfriend Amber, but when the trouble was over, Gery got him a job at Kroger. Raulon and Gery planned to get a place together several times, but to no avail. Working again, he worked and tried to get himself together. After several months, after a conflict of interest with a manager, he soon left Kroger. In 2003 continuing to move from place to place, Raulon decided he wanted to go to the army with Gery. After a while, he changed his mind. Working at several places, he once again focused on getting his life together.
In 2004, Raulon met a special young lady by the name of Tiffany. They became very good friends, actually best friends. Raulon began working at Speedway. He really loved that job. Raulon dated different young ladies during this time when he met a young lady named Keisha. Raulon cared for her and they had a lot of things in common but she was not Raulon's type. It was late 2004, around September when Raulon first felt a lump. As most of you know Raulon was very stubborn and he hated going to the doctor. Despite Tiffany and his family's efforts to get him to go to the doctor to get the lump checked out he wouldn't. December 2004 Raulon began feeling ill from what he thought was just a winter cold. (or so he wanted everyone to believe).It was January 2005 when he first discovered that the lump that he had discovered in September was cancerous. This was a rough time but Raulon considered this the most blessed year of his life. On January 5, Raulon was diagnosed with Ewings Surcoma. With Best friend Tiffany and family like Shasmine at his side, Raulon did more in one year than his whole life. He became the person he always wanted to be and everyone knew he always was. Even with cancer, Raulon did not see it as a weakness, if anything, his confidence and faith in God was stronger than ever. Raulon became the greates living testimony anyone had ever seen. The first 2 months after being diagnosed a lot of people didn't think he'd make it to see the next day. The doctors gave him a 3% chance of living to see the year 2006. Raulon was truly blessed, and a blessing to the hundreds of people he touched with his testimony. Overcoming the horrifying things he had to go through, he only saw it as a blessing, moving closer and closer to Jesus everyday. With Mom, Suriffa; Dad, Bob; sister, Shasmine; Aunt, Marjorie, Brother, Bill; and bestfriend, Tiffany at his side all the time, he blessed them. After being diagnosed and having his very first seizure Raulon realized that he loved his bestfriend Tiffany more than anything. So one day they went out to dinner and he asked her to be his girlfriend. Raulon finally realized whom he was meant to spend the rest of his life with.When no one else was around, it was his family and girlfriend Tiffany, he could always count on. Even throughout that, Raulon was still very loyal to his friends. As cancer fought with him, he fought back even harder. Although many of friends didn't know Raulon had began feeling depressed because none of them were coming around and he was beginning to question his friendshps with them. He prayed and asked God to forgive them. As the grueling months of 2005 went by, instead of letting go of the friends who seemly ignored him, he reached out to them, blessing and forgiving them. His relationship with Tiffany continued to grow everyday, he even planned to marry her, telling his friends this also. He still planned to move in with Gery if he got the chance. Still having seizures and the tumors not disappearing Raulon still held his head up high. With his 22nd birthday quickly approaching in October, he seemed to get better. Among his friends, Raulon's birthday was always the best, full of people and good food (thanx Suriffa and Majorie). At Raulon's birthday gathering Raulon was the happiest he had been in a while; with his friends & family especially the love of his life and future wife Tiffany around.Shortly after his birthday party, Raulon's health began having a downfall once again. He began having seizures quite frequently. Raulon knew that his time on this earth was coming to an end, so he tried to help his family and girlfriend get prepared for what was going to happen.Raulon finally won his battle with cancer. Some would say he lost, but he won because he had finally found peace with himself, his family, and his friends. He had found his purpose, and knew that God was saying well done. We all got the call Nov. 12, that our brother, our best friend, had been called to wait for the heavens to open up... at 22 years old. that day changed our lives forever. We all came together one last time November 16, 2005 at Ethan Temple to give our respects one last time to our hero. For all of us it was a surreal experience one that none of us believed would ever come true. It seemed like a bad dream none of us could wake up from.With his family and girlfriend Tiffany... still at his side, it was like a day that never ended. Many of Raulon's loved ones and friends got up and recalled memories of Raulon. More and more we realized that Raulon was the super-glue that held us all together, because we've all been apart since.As time goes on we move further and further apart, but I (Gery) wish that we could take the time and become closer. Raulon always wanted everyone close, even when most of the time he was the one breakin us apart sometimes. So I pray that we take this time to reflect on his great memory. As his 23rd birthday approaches, we need to be together as I'm sure we would be if he were still here. Thank You Shasmine and Tiffany, God Bless. Thank you Suriffa, Aunt Marjorie, Bob & Bill. Our FamilyMost of all, THANK YOU RAULON... WE WILL SEE YOU AGAIN ONE DAY!!WE LOVE YOU!
